Ricardo Fukasawa, a fifth * year PhD student in the Algorithms, Combinatorics, and Optimization program at ISyE, is the 2008-2009 recipient of the IBM Goldstine Postdoctoral Fellowship in Mathematical Sciences. The Goldstine Fellowship offers scientists of exceptional ability the opportunity to progress their scholarship at the IBM Research Center as a resident department member.

In order to pursue the fellowship, Fukasawa will postpone his position as assistant professor in the Department of Combinatorics and Optimization at the University of Waterloo. He will graduate this August and begin the fellowship shortly after. Additionally, Fukasawa will receive a stipend of $95,000 to $115,000. IBM has awarded the Fellowship to one recipient per year since 1999.

"During my year at IBM as a Goldstine Fellow I want to extend my current line of research on cutting planes for mixed-integer programs, as well as start getting involved in other projects that will help me extend my expertise in optimization,* said Fukasawa.

Fukasawa is the first student from Georgia Tech to receive this honor. His advisor is Dr. William J. "Bill* Cook; Fukasawa is the second of Cook's advisees to be awarded the Fellowship. While a professor at Rice University in Houston, TX, Cook also advised 2002 Fellowship recipient Sanjeeb Dash. The 2007 winner and current holder is Dr. Ton Dieker, a recent addition to the ISyE faculty.

Ricardo Fukasawa's research interests include theoretical and computational mixed-integer programming problems (with emphasis on polyhedral combinatorics, cutting planes, and branch-cut-and-price) and vehicle routing and similar types of combinatorial optimization problems. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Pontif*cia Universidade Cat*lica do Rio de Janeiro.